I am in the beginning stages of planning a bike tour for my sweetie and I for this September through the Northeast. He's never been there before! I went to school in southeast Vermont and definitely want to show off that area to him, and probably ride up the Connecticut River from Brattleboro at least to White River Junction and take in some lovely river views.

I'm thinking we'll take the train overnight from Chicago to Albany and start from there, 'cause I'm not very excited about spending time biking through the Midwest and Pennsylvania, and we'll probably only have two weeks or so for this trip. I would really like to go through some of Maine. I visited a college there when I was in high school (College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor) and what I saw of it was so beautiful, but so brief.

So, I would like suggestions from folks who have biked through these parts of the Northeast about bike-friendly routes, and generally about the best places that we should see. Folk art attractions are also a plus!

Probably closer to our trip you'll also see me asking if anyone would let us crash in their guest room/living room/set up a tent in their yard.

http://www.adventurecycling.org has a lot of maps and routes through that area that are great, they are specifically for biking and have elevation maps and local emergency info on them. there are a bunch of bike-friendly routes, but bring a solid patch kit and air pump because the roads are TRASHED (frost heaves, hooray!)

_________________Space has stared into the tiny syrup holes of our shame and it does not judge us. - Amandabear

cool! the last part of adventure cycling's northern tier map is just what i wanted! i was thinking we'd go north from brattleboro up along the connecticut river on rt 12 to white river junction, and then didn't know what- looks like we could join right up with their route at white river junction and take it all the way through new hampshire and and maine to bar harbor. perfect.

boober, are there any particular spots that you liked or didn't like?

broseph, thanks for the suggestion. i know a few people who have used warm showers but i've never done it- i've done couchsurfing though so i'm totally into meeting and staying with random people from the internet.

now i just have to figure out how i want to get from albany to brattleboro. too bad route 9 through southern vermont is so terrifying, there aren't that many road options around there but that road is so dangerous on a car, i don't know if i could bring myself to do it on a bike.

If you're going through Maine, the coastal roads are beautiful! I've never biked up there, but I'd imagine it to not be too terrible. If you can, visit Deer Isle; It's lovely. They have a cheap hostel there, a few galleries, and amazing coastal forests of moss and fir trees.